Mystery of the Earth's missing crust solved: Researchers say massive amounts of land sank into the mantle when early continents collided

About 60 million years ago, the continental crust making up Eurasia and India began the slow process of collision, giving rise to the Himalayas.
But, in a new study, researchers discovered that half of this landmass has disappeared from Earth’s surface.
Through meticulous calculations, the team has determined that this ‘missing’ crust was actually swallowed by the mantle – a phenomenon which was thought to be nearly impossible at this scale.
THE MISSING CRUST  Geoscientists from the University of Chicago calculated the mass before and after the collision of the India-Asia system, taking... read more